WPT Championship Photos and Day 4 Update

Dr. Pauly, of the #1 World Series of Poker Blog, Tao of Poker, files his daily report from the WPT $25K Championship at the Bellagio’s 5 Star World Poker Classic…Flipchip photos—Ed.

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

Outside looking in at the Bellagio’s Fontana Room,

In the fastest day of the WPT Championship, action went from 54 to 27 players in less than three hours of play. In that time frame, Phil Hellmuth lost the chiplead and several big names hit the rail including Patrik Antonius, Lyle Berman, Danny Alaei, Bill Gazes, Zee Justin, and Mark Gregorich.

More after the jump…

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com
Phil Hellmuth stands as smoking man goes all-in

The Buzz

Almost every spectator in the tournament wanted to know how Phil Hellmuth was doing. He began the day as the chipleader but slowly let that get away from him. He played to many pots and was overly aggressive which cost him. The once bulletproof Hellmuth was finally vulnerable and he couldn’t bully everyone around like he did during previous days.

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

A tough table at Wednesday’s 5 Star finacle

The Back Story

The players were busting out faster than anticipated. By 5:30pm there were 27 players remaining. Jack McClelland polled the remaining players if they wanted to continue to play down to either 18 players or a full five levels. A few disagreed such as CK Hua and Mike Wattel and play was suspended with 27 players to go.

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

Fans crowded the sidelines all afternoon

Sight of the Day

The once packed Fontana Room only had six tables filled with 54 players, which left plenty of empty spaces. That didn’t prevent railbirds from standing four and five people deep to catch a glimpse of Phil Hellmuth’s table. At that point in the tournament, the media covering the WPT Championship outnumbered the players.

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

Lyle Berman

Quote of the Day

“I’m waiting for Lyle (Berman) to go broke so we can have a cash game,” said Doyle Brunson. “I knew if I told him we had a cash game waiting on him, then he’d play a lot more liberal.”

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

Carlos Mortensen with $2+ mil in chips

Hand of the Day

In one of the biggest hands of the day, Raymond Davis lost a huge portion of his stack while Carlos Mortensen jumped to the front of the pack. On a flop of 10c-7c-6c, Mortensen moved all in with 7s-7d. Davis called with Ac-8h. he had a gutshot and a nut flush draw. The turn was 3s and the river was the Qh. Davis missed as Mortensen’s stack pushed past the 2.5M mark.

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

David Levi

Notable Stacks

Paul Lee is the chipleader with over 3.6M. Players with at least 2M are Kirk Morrison, Carlos Mortensen, and Sorel Mizzi. Rounding out the Top 10 are Thomas Wahlroos, Jake Minter, Ben Johnson, Tim Phan, Scott Fischman, and David Levi. Phil Hellmuth has under 800K along with Roland de Wolfe and Paul Wasicka.

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

Miller time

Money Winners

The following players won $46,410: Justin Young, Patrik Antonius, Danny Alaei, and Joe Grebanier.

The following players won $61,880: Fred David, Michael Thuritz, Bill Ferrand, Jared Hamby, Antonio Salorio, Abe Mosseri, Elia Ahmadian, Eric Herschler, Marc Goodwin, and Pramesh Bansi.

The following players won $77,350: David Oppenheim, Mark Gregorich, Bill Gazes, Tom Lee, Justin Bonomo, Ted Kearly, Tim McCarthy, Philip Tom, Doron Malinasky, and Noah Jefferson.

The following players won $92,820: Thomas Schreiber, Lyle Berman, and Ian Johns.

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

Robert Wazelle comes back to play Thursday

Post a comment

Your Name

Your Email Address (required, but not displayed)

Your Web Address (optional)

Your Comment
Filter: TextileSmartyPantsMarkdown

What day of the week has the letter "h" in it's name? (required)